The Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh got underway this weekend as the minor nations begun their campaigns to qualify for the Super Eight stage.
Holders West Indies, along with the other big names, will enter the competition later this week, with the top two from both groups advancing through to the semi-finals.
Prior to that, Sports Mole has looked ahead to the 16-team tournament with former Australia international Ian Chappell, who was speaking following the ESPNcricinfo 2013 awards, which recognises the best individual batting and bowling performances in cricket over the calendar year.
The big news coming out of the Australia camp is that Mitchell Johnson has been ruled out of the tournament through injury. Considering his recent form, how much will his pace be missed?
"They will miss him, but they would miss him a lot more if it was a Test series coming up. In T20, you can cover the loss of Johnson a lot easier than if it was a Test match. With Australia's batting, it's potentially very strong and they are powerful in the hitting department. As long as the bowling is up to a good standard, Johnson's absence might have an adverse reaction, but not as much as in the longer format."
It would be fair to say that Australia are the form country in all formats of the game at the moment. Does that make them the favourties to win in Bangladesh?
"It's always a danger predicting T20 tournaments because a bad or a very good over can make a huge difference to a game, particularly when you get down to the knockout stages. You'd have to say, though, that at this point if not the favourites, Australia are one of the favourites."
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Who will be Australia's key players? Is it those batsmen at the top of the order?
"David Warner, Aaron Finch and Shane Watson is not a bad top three at all. In the case of Warner and Watson, they are good batsmen, while Finch is a good hitter. It's the danger impact. The opposition will go into matches thinking 'if these guys blast off for the first 10 overs, we're in a lot of trouble'. Opponents know that they are going to have to bowl very well right from the very start against Australia."
Shane Warne has been brought in by Darren Lehmann to help with the bowling for this tournament. Is that a good decision?
"I've never believed that coaches at international level, certainly with the major teams, make a lot of difference. To have Warne available to help is good, but I'm just not sure that you need to have those blokes around all of the time – maybe during a tournament it is a good thing. Having said that, if anybody can make a difference, Warne can. Sometimes you need somebody to give you a bit of information or a few suggestions, but in the end, the players need to work things out for themselves. You get the information, but it's up to you what you do with it."
What of England? Recent form suggests that they will struggle to make it out of the Super Eights.
"If England make the semi-finals, that will surprise me. They will struggle. English cricket has done some crazy things recently – the craziest of all being getting rid of Kevin Pietersen."
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You would have kept Pietersen in the England squad then?
"It's a ludicrous decision, particularly to come up with the excuse that they are trying to bolster the captain by getting rid of the best player - that is ridiculous. Any England players that weren't exasperated by Alastair Cook's captaincy, they are the ones that should have been demoted, not someone that was querying it."
What about the other nations? Due to the fact that Bangladesh are the hosts, should India and Sri Lanka be considered Australia's major challengers?
"I wouldn't count out the West Indies because they have Chris Gayle at the top of the order. He is the type of player that can change a game on his own very quickly. They've also got some other big hitters as well. I'm not sure that their bowling is quite up to the mark, but with a guy like Sunil Narine in Bangladesh in those conditions, I wouldn't rule out the Windies.
"India and Sri Lanka with their spinners and particularly India's batting, again they've got some powerful players, while Sri Lanka always seem to give a good account of themselves. Those two, plus the West Indies and Australia are the major contenders. Pakistan? They are dangerous, but I'm not sure that they are consistent enough with the bat."
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